(September 9, 2026)
British intelligence has been given assurances by its Israeli counterpart that information sharing with the UK will continue as before, Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, has said.
Archiv: unavoidable exceptions to the boycott of British-based media / boycott due to Five Eyes Standard „Online Safety Bill“
Joint Foreign Ministers‘ Statement on the Two-State Solution
(September 8, 2026)
Statement of the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK on the Two-State Solution
1. The Government of Israel’s actions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-State solution. The situation is rapidly deteriorating amid unprecedented levels of settler violence and settlement expansion, including the unacceptable decision to publish tenders for the E1 settlement project. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the President of France Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney have agreed on the need to take action to prevent further damage.
Today, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK confirm their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures. In this regard, the UK, France and Canada welcome the important action already taken by Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium and will bring forward national measures to ban trade in settlement goods.
Iran war likely to drag on for another six months, ex-US defense secretary warns
Panetta declared in an interview that the war with Iran – launched by Trump over six months ago – risks becoming another “forever war in the Middle East”, with no clear end in sight.
“It’s no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,” said Panetta, who also served as CIA director under Barack Obama, suggesting the conflict is on course to become “another failed war” in the Middle East “like Iraq and Afghanistan”.
Israel is a rogue nation. It should be removed from the United Nations
(October 15, 2024)
Over the past year, Israel has launched attacks on multiple countries and occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Yet countries and territories aside, Israel has also targeted one specific organization with a series of unprecedented rhetorical and violent attacks.
Yes, the United Nations. We have all witnessed Israel, in effect, declare war on the UN.
The Guardian view on Israel’s death penalty: capital punishment is always wrong. This new law is doubly so
(March 31, 2026)
Execution will be the default for Palestinians found guilty of lethal attacks deemed as terrorist acts in the West Bank’s military courts – which have a conviction rate of around 96%. Amnesty International says that the system routinely relies on evidence extracted through torture and abuse. The death sentence will be imposed even if prosecutors do not seek it. Convictions need no longer be unanimous. There is no possibility of pardon. Executions must take place within 90 days. Within Israeli civilian courts, the new law imposes the death penalty for deliberately killing a person with the intention of “negating the existence of the State of Israel”. Life imprisonment can only substitute in unspecified “special” circumstances.
There could hardly be a more shocking contrast with the near-total impunity of Israelis killing Palestinians in the West Bank, amid increasing – and increasingly systematic – state-backed settler violence.
Can Netanyahu say just what he likes?
(October 25, 2015)
A political consultant once related how he lunched with Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered a hamburger with fries. He was not supposed to be eating such foods – doctor’s orders. As they were finishing up, Bibi’s wife, Sarah, came in, saw the evidence and began to see red. Netanyahu, all righteous indignation, looked her straight in the eye and said he had eaten no such hamburger. The storyteller said he was convinced at that moment that Netanyahu himself believed it.
If apocryphal, it is definitely in character. Netanyahu regularly embraces bad ideas or even lies so totally that he convinces himself of their rightness. Others start to believe them too. His outlandish idea, uttered in a speech, was that Hitler would have been happy with just expelling Jews if a Palestinian, the then grand mufti of Jerusalem, had not suggested annihilation instead.
R (on the application of Ammori) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent)
Case ID
UKSC/2026/0099
Parties
Appellant(s)
Huda Ammori
Respondent(s)
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Issue
Was the decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 lawful?
(…)
Full hearing
Start date
4 November 2026
End date
5 November 2026
14 peaceful protesters arrested at Palestine Action demonstration outside Bristol Prison
“Deep in my heart I do believe, Gaza will be free someday,” sang protesters, as another group sitting in a peaceful and silent demonstration outside Bristol Prison were arrested for holding signs in support of Palestine Action.
14 protesters were carted into police vans on Thursday morning for holding signs in support of the pro-Palestinian group, which remains a proscribed organisation in the UK, meaning showing support for it is illegal.
Saudi Arabia prepares sea and possible land offensive against Houthis
(July 30, 2026)
Riyadh has also asked the US and a group of European countries including Germany, France, the UK and Italy to join a Red Sea coalition.
The EU already has a naval protection mission, Aspides, operating in the Red Sea and it remains unclear if the Houthis are mounting a general blockade or one directed solely at Saudi Arabia.
‘Destroy Gaza including kidnapped soldiers’ – leaked clip again proves Israel’s Hannibal Directive
(June 29, 2026)
The clip was shot very early on the morning of the raid. We know this because Israeli forces conducted ‘Hannibal Directive attacks’ on its own people, on average around three times an hour, from just after 6am that day until after 9pm. The Hannibal order was clarified as “kill anything that moves” – hundreds of Israelis were killed, including most of those slain at the ‘Nova’ music festival.
Israeli media admit this. Israeli military figures have admitted killing an “immense” number of their own people. Israel’s then-defence minister, wanted war criminal Yo’av Gallant, admitted it – and said he wished it had been used more. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly even tried to have one specific captured soldier killed before his release from Gaza to prevent a ceasefire.
UK politicians and media continue to keep silent about it – and even attack those who expose it.
US strikes oil tanker with missiles as it enforces new Iran blockade
The US has attacked an oil tanker in the Gulf, which it said was heading towards Iran‘s largest oil export terminal, as it reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports.
US Central Command (Centcom) said on Wednesday that Belma „ignored multiple warnings“ as it was heading towards the Kharg Island oil terminal and an aircraft disabled the tanker by „firing Hellfire missiles into the ship‘s smokestack“.
Detained Gaza doctor almost unrecognisable after injuries in Israeli jail, lawyer says
“I have visited Dr Abu Safiya several times since his detention, but the individual I encountered during this latest visit was not the same person I had previously met,” Odeh said on Sunday, calling for an immediate independent medical examination. ‘‘His physical and psychological state, the severe injuries visible on his body, and his personal testimony leave no room for doubt: his life is in immediate danger.”
Abu Safiya appeared frightened, distressed and reluctant to speak freely in the meeting, Odeh said, but told his lawyer that he was subjected to daily beatings in the Rakefet jail, and had lost consciousness several times as a result.
Rakefet, where prisoners never see daylight, was built in the 1980s to hold senior organised crime figures before being closed on the grounds it was inhumane. It was reopened on the orders of the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Part of Earth’s core has switched directions. And nobody really knows why
(June 11, 2026)
The observation provides new insights into the behaviour of the liquid outer core, which plays a key role in generating Earth’s magnetic field. Without this magnetic shield, the planet would be dangerously exposed to solar radiation.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh checked ground observations and satellite data between 1997 and 2025. They report in The Journal of Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior, that in 2010, a broad region of iron-rich fluid beneath the equatorial Pacific switched from moving weakly westwards to strongly eastwards.
The Planet Cooled In June; Europe Maps The Heat Island; Hokkaido Joins The July Chill; + Rare Coastal Snow As South America Freezes
(July 3, 2026)
For all the media’s huffing and puffing over western Europe’s “climate-change heatwave,” the planet cooled in June.
UAH’s satellite-based lower troposphere record has June 2026 at +0.46C above the norm, down from +0.53C in May — a clear monthly fall all while headlines tried to turn one regional European hot spell into proof of a planetary catastrophe.
According to a World Weather Attribution report — and dutifully recycled by the usual activist rags — western Europe’s recent heatwave was “impossible without the climate crisis.”
Reuters led with the same line, adding that the “soaring night-time temperatures” were made 100 times more likely. The Guardian went further, calling it the “worst ever and impossible without climate crisis,” and claiming the heat was “only possible because of fossil-fuel burning.” Euronews warned that “climate change is running rampant,” while El País spelled out the sermon in its headline: “It’s not just hot, it’s climate change.” Etc. Etc. Etc.
The European heat was real. But it was weather. It was circulation. That is what blocking highs do.
Overall, the planet cooled 0.07C in June.
Subsurface structural changes associated with successive 11-yr solar activity cycles have been progressively more confined near the surface: new helioseismic results on Cycles 22–25 from BiSON
(May 28, 2026)
We use Sun-as-a-star helioseismology data, collected by the Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network, to examine the relationship between the solar-cycle-induced frequency shifts of whole-Sun, low-angular degree solar p modes and well-known proxies of global solar activity. Changes in behaviour between the low-frequency modes and proxies, which in a previous study we found had occurred on the declining phase of Cycle 23, appear to have persisted into Cycle 25. More striking is a significant change in the relationship for higher-frequency modes, which the new Cycle 25 data now reveal. The observed mean frequency shifts in Cycle 25 are much stronger than one would expect for these modes based on the relationship between the frequencies and proxies seen in previous cycles, in particular Cycle 22. In sum, Cycle 25 is as strong as Cycles 22 and 23 when observed in this higher-frequency seismic band, in marked contrast to the relative sizes of the cycles seen in the global activity proxies, where Cycle 25 is noticeably weaker. (…)
The last few solar cycles have seen significant changes in overall levels of activity and differences in the evolution of magnetic fields at different solar latitudes (e.g. see D. H. Hathaway 2015; A. Norton et al. 2023). Cycle 24 was significantly weaker in well-known proxies of global solar activity than previous cycles, and marked a departure from the preceding so-called modern maximum epoch (I. G. Usoskin 2017). While the current Cycle 25 has peaked at higher activity, it did not return to pre-Cycle-24 levels.
Listening to the Sun reveals previously hidden changes to solar cycle
(May 28, 2026)
Professor Sarbani Basu, from Yale University, said, “We discovered that the relationship between internal solar oscillations and surface activity has evolved over the past few cycles. This trend cannot be explained simply by weaker magnetic fields. Instead, it indicates a structural reorganisation of how the Sun’s magnetic activity is stored beneath the surface.”
Ongoing collection and analysis of BiSON solar data over what remains of Cycle 25 and into the upcoming Cycle 26 will be crucial in determining whether the changes discovered in the Sun’s activity point to a sustained, systematic change in solar magnetic behaviour.
‘Sixty seconds, that’s all it took’: the clinical Israeli-US operation to kill Ali Khamenei
(March 1, 2026)
The timing of the assassination was determined by information the CIA gleaned about a meeting of top Iranian officials at a leadership compound in the heart of Tehran scheduled for Saturday morning. Most critically, the CIA was able to tell Israeli counterparts that Khamenei would be at the site and the timing of the meeting, according to the New York Times.
Israeli spies had also been tracking Khamenei for many years, building a minutely detailed file on his daily routine and those of his family members, associates, allies and those charged with keeping him safe.
Andy Burnham sworn in as new MP after Starmer announces resignation
Andy Burnham is sworn in as the MP for Makerfield hours after Keir Starmer announces his resignation as Labour Party leader
Palestine Action ban is lawful, Court of Appeal rules
(today)
The government‘s proscription of Palestine Action as a terror organisation is lawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
In one of the most significant rulings on national security in recent years, five of the most senior judges in the country overturned an earlier decision from the High Court that the ban had breached the right to protest and had been incorrectly taken by ministers.
But five Court of Appeal judges concluded in a hearing on Monday that the ban had been „justified and proportionate“.
Pro-Palestine activists sentenced as terrorists over damage at Israeli arms factory in UK
(June 12, 2026)
A report relied on by the prosecution at Friday’s sentencing hearing said the raid on the factory had caused £1.2m of damage, including to 41 military assets. The report referred to £395,056 of damage to six units in an unnamed drone system as well as damage to other unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mr Justice Johnson told the four they had participated in a “carefully planned and highly sophisticated attack”, adding: “The fact that you were trying to shut down a company that you thought was acting unlawfully does not reduce the seriousness of the offence.”
‘Embarrassing’: pressure on Merz after Germany’s failure to win UN security council seat
In an awkward rivalry among EU partners, Portugal took 134 votes and Austria 131 while Germany garnered just 104, significantly below the required 127 votes despite Berlin’s expressed confidence just hours before that it would prevail.
Both winners were seen to represent the interests of smaller countries, while Austria could benefit from its perceived neutrality as a non-Nato member and Portugal touted its strong ties in Africa and Latin America.
‚I could not stay silent‘, says activist who shouted at Ben-Gvir
Catriona Graham was one of hundreds of activists who were detained by Israel this week while trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza by boat.
Israel‘s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir later posted a video showing himself taunting the activists as they kneeled with their hands tied behind their backs.
Israel is a rogue nation. It should be removed from the United Nations
(October 15, 2024)
Over the past year, Israel has launched attacks on multiple countries and occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Yet countries and territories aside, Israel has also targeted one specific organization with a series of unprecedented rhetorical and violent attacks.
Yes, the United Nations. We have all witnessed Israel, in effect, declare war on the UN.
Beyond Westminster’s chaos, a new grassroots left is taking shape
A flavour of what may be its future was seen in a Your Party meeting I attended in Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, three weeks ago. As Your Party-leaning candidates reported on their experience and intentions, one theme emerged clearly: the centrality of community-level organising and support, like that Corbyn’s community-skills programme advocated for seven years ago.
Could this grow into something substantial? Ordinarily, maybe not, but there are three years to the next general election, and it is obvious that Your Party is playing it long. The Labour Party is unlikely to seriously challenge neoliberal economics within that time, but Your Party most certainly will.
Starmer under pressure, as Labour suffers heavy elections losses
The results in England, Scotland and Wales have piled pressure on Sir Keir, with some Labour MPs calling for him to set a timetable for his departure, although his cabinet allies have backed him for now.
Labour has lost power in Wales, ending its 27 year-long rule, while the SNP appears likely to remain the largest party in Scotland.
Reform UK has been the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,400 seats and taking control of councils in areas where Labour and the Conservatives have been historically dominant.
After Beirut strike, Netanyahu says ‚no immunity‘ for militants
(May 7, 2026)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday there was no „immunity“ for Israel‘s enemies, a day after the Israeli military targeted a Hezbollah commander in its first strike on Beirut‘s southern suburbs since a ceasefire declared last month.
Israeli attacks kill dozens within days in Lebanon despite ceasefire
(May 4, 2026)
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 17 people on Monday, Lebanon‘s health ministry says – marking one of the deadliest few days there since a ceasefire began just over two weeks ago.
It brings the number of those killed since Thursday to 110 , according to the ministry.
Arms dealer says Clinton and Obama accidentally gave guns to ISIS, Al Qaeda and Benghazi attackers – then tried to scapegoat him for their screw-up with failed $10m felony case
(October 12, 2016)
– Marc Turi ‚had plan to get arms to Libyan rebels in 2011 despite UN ban‘
– But he says Clinton stole the idea and she and CIA did it without him
– However the guns ‚then went to Al Qaeda, ISIS and Benghazi attackers‘
– They tried to scapegoat him by saying he sold the arms illegally, he says
– But he claims that he never sold anything in Libya
– The five-year, $10m case was dropped last week by prosecutors
– He says they didn‘t want to press on because it would compromise Clinton
– The trial would have started on November 8 – which is Election Day
– Turi also hinted at information on weapons that disappeared in Benghazi
Jihadists appear caught offguard by release of Steven Sotloff video
(September 2, 2014)
The video of Steven Sotloff‘s apparent murder appears to have been found by a private US intelligence firm before it could be released by the Islamic State.
News of Mr Sotloff‘s death was broken by the SITE Intelligence group, a private company that monitors jihadist activity and has close ties to the American intelligence community.
The group‘s analysts found the video on what a spokesman described as „a file-sharing site“ and send it out to its subscriber list. SITE‘s subscribers include government officials, journalists and academics involved in analysing terrorism.