Black-clad protesters in balaclavas block road at port of Dover in Kent

• Technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity are expanding diplomacy beyond traditional government negotiations to shape global affairs. • Nations are competing to develop advanced AI capabilities for use in military systems, intelligence gathering, and cyber operations.

Farage, who had earlier suspended two close aides, had his keynote speech interrupted multiple times by protesters on FridayMorning, and welcome to our UK politics blog. Reform UK’s annual conference continues in Birmingham today, with speeches from Lee Anderson, Zia Yusuf, Robert Jenrick and others, before Nigel Farage takes to the stage for the closing remarks.The conference has been overshadowed by a scandal involving senior Reform figures caught in an undercover sting discussing potential foreign donations, prompting the suspension of two senior aides and renewed scrutiny of the party’s finances. Continue reading...

Scale of deportations made public for first time amid criticism of hardline approach to UK citizensSweden has confirmed 458 British citizens have been deported or forcibly removed by police since Brexit.It is the first time the scale of the deportations of citizens who failed to secure residency in Sweden post Brexit has been made public and comes amid mounting criticism of a cruel and hardline approach to Britons who had chosen to make the country their home before Brexit. Continue reading...

Experts say invasive species are creating ‘pollinator deserts’ and could have serious impact on food securityBritish beekeepers have called for a national awareness campaign about the impact of Asian hornets as they warned the invasive species was creating “pollinator deserts” and threatening food security.Native to south-east Asia, the yellow-legged hornet is thought to have arrived in Europe in 2004 and has continued to spread ever since, its numbers probably boosted by increasingly warm springs and summers. Continue reading...

Irish boxer lauded for her tenacity and inspiration before her last fight in front of 80,000 people at Croke ParkWhen Katie Taylor steps into the ring on Saturday night to defend her titles and once again enthral Ireland, there will be a bittersweet tinge. After a singular career that pioneered women’s boxing, the super-lightweight champion and Olympic gold medallist is bowing out. She is 40 and it is to be her final bout.“The end of an era, isn’t it?” said Trevor McMahon, her brother-in-law and founder of a gym where she trains. “It’ll be an amazing night but it’ll also be a little bit sad. Everything she did, it might not ever be achieved again.” Continue reading...

A total fire ban is in place for greater Sydney with extreme fire danger exacerbated by hot and windy conditionsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSummer heat is due to arrive early across much of eastern Australia with potentially record early September temperatures predicted for Brisbane and Sydney, while snow was expected in southern New South Wales.Maximum temperatures in Sydney during the first days of September were on track to match the city’s midsummer average of 26.4C, warmer than any other start to spring since the city’s Observatory Hill station opened in 1858. Continue reading...

Ruling allows defense department to proceed for now in exerting greater editorial control over military news outletA federal judge has declined to stop the Pentagon from firing journalists who say they were illegally punished for speaking out about the need for the Stars and Stripes publication to maintain its editorial independence.The ruling by US district judge Trevor McFadden allows the Pentagon to proceed for now in exerting greater editorial control over the historically independent military news outlet. Continue reading...

Interior department given three months to decide whether wolves can be removed from endangered species listDonald Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the interior department to consider de-listing gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act and to contemplate whether the agency could make it easier to authorize killing them.The order gives interior secretary Doug Burgum three months to determine whether gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves have recovered enough for the federal government to de-list them. Continue reading...

The Israeli army had helped plan the delivery of food aid on 1 April 2024, but things went wrong from the beginning and ended in seven deaths• Exclusive: why seven international aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrikeOn the evening of 1 April 2024, a team of aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) stood on Gaza’s Mediterranean shore overseeing the unloading of a barge full of desperately needed food on a makeshift jetty made of sand and rubble.The Gaza war had been raging for six months and Israel’s closure of land crossings had left the whole territory facing the threat of famine. WCK and local Palestinian contractors had constructed the jetty out of everything they could lay their hands on, including debris from the bombed house of one of the contractors, so that the pallets of humanitarian assistance could be delivered by boat from Cyprus. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic• Death on the road to Rafah: the night the IDF targeted World Central Kitchen aid workersSeven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows.A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid delivery to Gaza. Three British humanitarian workers along with an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian national were killed. Continue reading...

Indira Talwani’s ruling presents major setback for president as first states begin to send out mail ballots for midtermsA federal judge on Friday extended her prohibition against the US Postal Service implementing Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting during the midterms, putting another major obstacle in the way of the administration as the first states begin sending out mail ballots.The preliminary injunction from US district court judge Indira Talwani replaces a temporary order she granted blocking the USPS plan. Continue reading...