Sydney set to hit 33C in warmest start to spring since mid-1800s, while snow forecast in southern NSW

• 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.

• Iain Davis published the final part of his series on the Praxians, detailing how a "Network Empire" agenda is influencing global governance and events in the Middle East. • The author argues that UN administrative processes can be automated using artificial intelligence and robotics to track humanitarian crises and monitor compliance.

• Heads of state from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met for a summit on September 4, 2026. • The gathering focused on establishing a political and economic force to support a multi-polar world, where power is shared among several nations rather than one or two.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the RAKSHA blueprint in New Delhi on Thursday, September 3, 2026, to guide India's defence diplomacy for the next 10 years. • The strategy integrates military partnerships with India's broader foreign policy, economic interests, and national security objectives.

• The Central Bank of the Netherlands transferred more than 25% of its gold reserves from the United States to the United Kingdom between March and August. • The bank moved the assets due to increasing geopolitical unrest and the belief that the Bank of England's holdings are the most readily available during a crisis.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released a strategic document titled 'Raksha' on Wednesday to outline India's global defence partnership roadmap for the next decade. • The document establishes a formal vision and set of guidelines for how India will manage its international military alliances through the next 10 years.

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...

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...

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...

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...