President Donald Trump’s administration has detained more than 50 spouses and parents of U.S. troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families, an AP investigation has found.

AP Exclusive: Trump's immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents

An Associated Press investigation reveals that President Donald Trump’s administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops.

bit.ly

The Ukrainian publisher of board games including Catan and Exploding Kittens is fighting for its existence after a Russian missile strike destroyed its warehouse, wiping out its entire stock of about 200,000 games: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...

What matters is whether one party wins the battle for the right, and then how extreme they are / whether they challenge democratic norms. And that determines whether we’re always one election away from a radical right/populist government in the UK.

Shocking to discover designating AI data centres as “National Critical Infrastructure” means water companies are prohibited from restricting water to them even in times of drought. Households will lose water first. Thanks to @olliehayes.bsky.social at @globalactionplan.bsky.social for joining me

Data Centres vs. Drinking Water: What Matters To Us Most?

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 30 July · 16min

podcasts.apple.com

For the first time in almost two decades of Pew Research Center surveys, both Canadians and Mexicans now view China more favorably than their neighbor, the United States. More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260728-top...

🧵1/ In our new paper, @chrischirp.bsky.social & I argue that while institutions can resist authoritarian pressure, some enable it. Looking at the current US regime, we examine why universities, law firms, and corporations often chose accommodation over resistance.

yeah we’re gonna have to ban prediction markets

People are making wildfire bets on prediction markets. Experts say it could lead to disaster | CNN

As the catastrophic Los Angeles wildfires raged last year, people placed bets on how how many acres the fires would consume, which locations they would reach and when they would be contained.

cnn.com

i worked in several casinos and later for an online sportsbook. the best advice i can give you is to stay the hell away from all of it.

Dissent Magazine@dissentmag.bsky.social · 3w ago

More than a quarter of American adults have a daily gambling habit, 42 percent of bettors have said they spend more than they should, and a majority of men ages eighteen to forty-nine have an active account with an online sportsbook.

I expect we’ll have to update health and safety regulations in the UK to cope with future heat waves. Can’t expect people to work properly in 30C heat. Otherwise we’ll be moving to stay at home Heat Days the same way we have Snow Days.

The Globe and Mail@theglobeandmail.com · 2w ago

Pornainen, Finland (pop 5,000) is now heated by a silo of crushed soapstone. I spoke to CNBC about it. 100 MWh, charged when power is cheap, emissions down ~70%. Days to weeks of storage, no critical minerals. www.cnbc.com/2026/07/25/f...

Finland’s radical answer to renewable energy’s biggest headache: The world’s largest sand battery

A small Finnish town has turned to the world's largest commercial sand battery to tackle a major hurdle in the energy transition: intermittency.

cnbc.com

An impressive victory for students in India!

Al Jazeera English@aljazeera.com · 2w ago

‘This is for all the students whose lives were taken by Dharmendra Pradhan.’ India’s youth-led ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ has claimed victory after forcing Education Minister Dharmandra Pradhan to resign, following weeks of nationwide demonstrations.

Carney: "I'm going to take this opportunity to thank President Scheinbaum and the Mexican people for sending 200 firefighters to help us with our fires here. That's what friends do when you have crisis and fires." #cdnpoli

The scenes from Cap Ferret are apocalyptic. They are an image of a future we have made present, through our insistence on access to plenty. Historians will look back open mouthed at how we knowingly consumed ourselves to death www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

France orders total evacuation of Cap Ferret peninsula as wildfire spreads

‘Intense and highly unpredictable’ blaze forces more than 40,000 people to flee popular holiday spot

theguardian.com

Lemme just say- it’s not the Canadians who are causing the strain.

Catio Miles@catiomiles.bsky.social · 2w ago

Pro Trump headline on BBC yet again disguised as both side-ism.

As a parent, I wish this ban had come into force a decade ago to benefit my child. It would’ve made parenting much easier. For far too many kids, social media has done a heck of a lot of harm. That’s in addition to poisoning our democracy.

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 2w ago

"France banned children under 15 from using social media on Tuesday, becoming the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on the platforms as concerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids." www.npr.org/2026/07/22/g...

Andy Burnham says homeless armed forces veterans are to get ‘fast tracked’ to the Bed Every Night progamme in Wigan | Chris Gee

Andy Burnham: Nobody who served our country should be sleeping rough

Andy Burnham says homeless armed forces veterans are to get ‘fast tracked’ to the Bed Every Night progamme in Wigan

northwestbylines.co.uk

As we've been saying, in a fair competition, American AI risks losing ground to Chinese AI because low-cost or free AI models are becoming good enough for many use cases. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/top-...

Top American AI Execs Sound Alarm on Chinese Models

The White House is divided on how to respond to recent advances in Chinese AI and has weighed crackdown measures.

wsj.com

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 2mo ago

This is true. With limited research funds, we have been using open-source models for our projects for nearly two years now. More companies will come to the same conclusion as hardware costs go down. www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

Karen Green, contemporary UK coppersmith and metal sculptor #womensart

Lithuanian artist Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene, known for her embroidery on various metal objects #WomensArt

Queen of Diamonds (1909) by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, one of the defining artists of the "Glasgow Style" #womensart

Israel and Netanyahu believed it was shoring up security when it laid siege to Gaza. But what it was actually doing was systematically destroying Israel’s support base in the US and abroad. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/u...

Almost Half of House Democrats Vote to End Aid to Israel

The measure failed, but the level of support among Democrats exposed a stark shift in the party away from backing the Jewish state.

nytimes.com

Caveat emptor. Palantir and mass surveillance, via the British state.

Jenny Cohn@jennycohn.bsky.social · 3w ago

8/ That Palantir-connected JP Morgan monitoring program reportedly “analyzed e-mails, browsing histories, phone call transcripts and even GPS data from company-provided cell phones to identify disgruntled and potentially malicious workers.”

Lots and lots of people like me came here legally. We pay our taxes. We contribute to society. We do our bit to make the country better. And now Michael Gove & Co want to change the rules on us and even take away our citizenship? I expected better than this @thespectator1828.bsky.social.

David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Spectator going full on ethnonationalist

Solar generated record 25% of EU power in June with Germany, Spain and Poland leading the race With an output of 52 TWh of electricity, solar overtook coal, gas, nuclear, wind and hydropower in June 2026

Solar met 25% of EU power needs in June thanks to quick installations

Solar was ahead of coal, gas, nuclear, wind and hydropower.

euronews.com

Cognitive warfare is key to destroying the credibility & legitimacy of this war in the eyes of the Russian public. Ukraine is not the only country that needs to grasp the importance of winning the disinfo war. UK, EU & NATO countries have so much catching up to do. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/w...

The Next Phase in Ukraine’s War With Russia: The Battle for Minds

Ukrainians, already drone innovators, are turning their focus to psychological operations aimed at undercutting Russian support for the war.

nytimes.com

Add this to Trump’s various moves on election integrity in a climate of his repeated lies about the 2020 election, where he was defeated.

Bill Kristol@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 4w ago

So military troops under the direct control of Trump and Hegseth will be on the streets of our nation’s capital for the rest of Trump’s term. The rationale—they’re here to help with a crime emergency—is laughable. But of course the real reason is ominous. cbs4local.com/news/nation-...

Horrific news. Jo Cox. David Amess. And now, Ann Widdecombe.

POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · 4w ago

Police in southwest England have said that the death of former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe will be investigated as a murder.

Let’s take big money out of politics!

Duncan Hames@duncanhames.bsky.social · 4w ago

On Tuesday, MPs will debate controls on the money in politics. We @transparencyuk.bsky.social think it is time they put a cap on the biggest donations anyone can make. Please ask your MP to support this call:

🚨 NEW from @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social Britain backs Binface 🚨 When asked who they would prefer win the Clacton by-election... 33% say Count Binface 21% say Nigel Farage 32% say neither 13% are undecided