President Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has registered as a foreign agent for Israel, hired to create digital campaigns combating antisemitism in a contract worth $6 million.
Parscale filed paperwork with the Foreign Agents Registration Act saying he began work for the Israeli government on Sept. 18. He registered a company called Clocktower X LLC and is primarily corresponding with Israel’s minister of Foreign Affairs and Eran Shayovich, listed as chief of staff at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to his LinkedIn.
Parscale’s contract was first reported by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington-based think tank that advocates for restraint in foreign policy.
According to Parscale’s contract, his company is hired to create content where at least 80 percent “is tailored to Gen Z audiences across platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and other relevant digital and broadcast outlets.”
The contract also states that “Agency shall provide strategic communications, planning, and media services in support of Client’s engagement by the State of Israel to develop and execute a nationwide campaign in the United States to combat antisemitism.”
Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political operative who has worked on right-wing campaigns across Latin America, was arrested in Bolivia this week in connection with the attempted murder of a woman with whom he reportedly had a romantic relationship.
As Drop Site News pointed out, he is business partners with President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale, and The Economist has called him “MAGA’s man in LatAm” for “forging close ties” to the US leader’s right-wing movement.
Aug. 19 (UPI) — Bolivian prosecutors will seek six months of pretrial detention for Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, a former campaign adviser to Argentine President Javier Milei and an adviser to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, over his alleged role as the intellectual author of a shooting attack against his former partner, Nadia Beller.
Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor Alberto Zeballos said Wednesday that prosecutors filed charges against Cerimedo for attempted femicide and will request that he remain for 180 days in Palmasola prison while the investigation moves forward, Bolivian newspaper EL DEBER reported.
“We have an alleged perpetrator in custody, as the intellectual author,” Zeballos said, referring to Cerimedo.
Prosecutors also opened a second investigation into Cerimedo in La Paz for alleged illicit enrichment after raiding two homes linked to the consultant and finding money, a satellite phone, valuables and vehicles, including one equipped with security features reserved for official use, according to La Paz departmental prosecutor Luis Carlos Torrez.
Israel has hired Clock Tower X LLC, a company with conservative leanings led by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, with a $6 million contract to promote pro-Israel content on social media platforms
Israel has hired Clock Tower X LLC, a company with conservative leanings led by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, with a $6 million contract to promote pro-Israel content on social media platforms.
The campaign will primarily target TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts, aiming to reach 50 million monthly impressions.
The company is also tasked with creating websites designed to shape Israel’s representation in AI models like ChatGPT and using MarketBrew AI to amplify pro-Israel narratives in Google and Bing search results.
The billionaire’s move to the Southern Cone is less about taxes or paranoia than about a vision of political and economic control
Pablo AlabarcesPablo Alabarces is a distinguished professor of popular culture in the faculty of social sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a senior researcher at CONICET
June 25, 2026
What Is Peter Thiel up to in Argentina?
The billionaire’s move to the Southern Cone is less about taxes or paranoia than about a vision of political and economic control
Pablo AlabarcesPablo Alabarces is a distinguished professor of popular culture in the faculty of social sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a senior researcher at CONICET
June 25, 2026
Peter Thiel holds up money at a bitcoin conference in Miami in April 2022. (Marco Bello/Getty Images)
Javier Milei’s rise to power in Argentina has transformed the country into a laboratory for the global far right and tech capital. At the center of this convergence stands Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, who has been living in Buenos Aires for just over a month.
Some commentators in the press and on social media have claimed that Thiel’s relocation represents a new flight of defeated Nazis to South America (though Thiel is not a Nazi, let alone a defeated one). Others suggest that his interest in the Southern Cone is due to fear of wealth taxes in California or a global collapse. Thiel’s arrival in Argentina is not, however, the product of paranoia, a mystical impulse or fascination with Javier Milei’s rhetoric; it is a logistical operation coordinated by a network of intermediaries, advisers and think tanks belonging to the transnational far right. And ultimately, it is part of a larger project of political and economic control.
After the end of World War II, many Nazi criminals escaped to South America — often with the covert support of local governments. None, of course, made it public; the Nazis had very bad press in Latin America in the postwar period. Among them, the government of Juan Perón (1946-1955) in Argentina attempted to recruit German scientists, much as the U.S. did with Wernher von Braun, a German-American aerospace engineer who was a member of the Nazi Party and one of the most important champions of space exploration in the 20th century. Perón’s attempt was a fiasco: Ronald Richter was neither much of a Nazi nor much of a scientist, though he managed to get Perón to finance a hydrogen isotope fusion energy project for several years, which was later revealed to be a hoax.
Far more serious was the case of SS officer Adolf Eichmann, a pivotal figure in the implementation of the “Final Solution,” who was abducted in Buenos Aires by the Mossad in 1960, taken to Israel, tried and executed. Over the years, the presence of Nazis in Argentina (and Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay) turned the country into a sort of pop-culture metaphor for a criminal safe haven. When the Blue Meanies are defeated by the psychedelic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the animated Beatles film “Yellow Submarine,” one of them asks, “Where can we flee? To Argentina?” The existence of a relatively significant German immigrant community in certain areas of Argentina contributed to the myth.
It is surely for this reason that a recent article in The Nation magazine begins by connecting Peter Thiel’s move to Argentina with that of Nazi criminals. Its author, David Futrelle, also jokes about the infamous escape of British criminal Ronnie Biggs to Brazil in 1964 (Biggs and 14 other men stole £2.6 million from the Glasgow-London Royal Mail Train in 1963). But Thiel is no train robber either; he is a German-born billionaire, naturalized as an American and later a New Zealander, who could become Argentine and, just in case, has also bought land in Uruguay. It is certainly an irony for a patron of JD Vance and the forces of “antiglobalist” nationalism to himself have citizenship in so many countries and be, in effect, a hyperglobal rootless cosmopolitan.
ICYMI: Congressman Al Green sent a communiqué to President Donald Trump formally notifying him that he filed H.Res.1486 to impeach President Donald John Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors
(Houston, TX) – On Monday, August 24, 2026, Congressman Al Green sent a communiqué to President Donald Trump formally notifying him that he filed H.Res.1486 to impeach President Donald John Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. Please see the next page for a copy of Congressman Green’s letter to President Trump.
SANTIAGO, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Chile is in the final phase of negotiations with the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) over tariffs, Chile’s undersecretary of international economic affairs Claudia Sanhueza told Reuters on Tuesday.
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and copper cathodes are already exempt from U.S. tariffs. Sanhueza said President Donald Trump’s administration currently had low tariff rates on other exports from the Andean nation.
Both legal instruments were signed on 13 December 2023. The European Parliament gave its consent to them on 29 February 2024.
The ITA entered into force on 1 February 2025. It will be repealed and replaced by the AFA once the latter enters into force.
The negotiating directives for the modernisation of the existing EU-Chile Association Agreement were first adopted by the Council in November 2017, setting out the scope of the negotiations. The EU and Chile concluded the modernisation negotiations on 9 December 2022.
The EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement deepens the trade and investment relationship between the EU and Chile. It removes most the remaining trade tariffs on goods, facilitates increased trade in services, and makes it easier for small companies to do business.
The ITA includes a new chapter on trade and sustainable development. The commitment to sustainable trade practices covers climate change, energy, the environment, raw materials, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable food systems. The agreement also includes social issues such as labour rights, gender equality, and responsible business conduct.
While the ITA is now in force, the AFA will enter into force when all EU Member States have completed their respective ratification processes. The ITA will then cease to exist and will be replaced by the AFA.
Chile’s government history includes its transition from Spanish colonial rule to independence in 1818, followed by periods of political instability, including civil wars and military dictatorships, notably the 1973 coup d’état led by General Augusto Pinochet. Since the return to democracy in 1990, Chile has developed a stable political system with regular elections and a multiparty framework. Wikipedia Freedom House
Impact of El Niño on Chile 2026:
The ECMWF SEAS5 seasonal forecast issued in May projects a consolidating El Niño through the second half of 2026, with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies exceeding +2 °C by October. For Chile, the signal matches the classic fingerprint: warmer winter and spring in the north and the Andes, and above-average precipitation in south-central Chile from August onward.
What El Niño is — and why it matters
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant source of interannual climate variability over the tropical Pacific. It manifests as anomalous SST warming in an ocean stripe —the Niño 3.4 region— that shifts global atmospheric circulation and reshapes rainfall, temperature and storm patterns far from the tropics.
Chile is especially responsive. During El Niño events central Chile tends to see wetter winters and the cordillera often accumulates more snow than usual, translating into greater water availability for the following agricultural season and hydro generation. Conversely, northern Chile and the altiplano often face drier summers and stronger heatwaves.
The operational implication is direct: anticipating the ENSO phase lets you reposition planning choices months ahead —irrigation schedules, reservoir policy, wildfire preparedness, logistics sizing — in sectors where the gap between wet and dry outcomes is measured in very large sums.
Andes Meltdown: New Insights Into Rapidly Retreating Glaciers
Using satellite data, scientists are documenting the inexorable melting of South America’s glaciers and ice fields, with Andean glaciers thinning by nearly three feet a year since 2000. The loss of ice poses a threat to water supplies and agriculture from Bolivia to Chile.
The U.S. and U.K. are using energy investment to shape post-Assad Syria.
Gulf states are taking the public lead while Western companies quietly drive the reconstruction of the country’s oil, gas, and power sectors.
Syria’s hydrocarbon sector remains strategically valuable, with substantial oil and gas reserves offering both economic recovery potential and a way for the West to reduce Russian influence while securing new regional energy supplies.
The agreement signed last week between the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), the U.S.’s ConocoPhillips and Great Britain’s Novaterra ConocoPhillips — covering the development of new gas fields and the expansion of output at existing sites — is the latest move in Washington’s and London’s long?game for shaping Syria’s post-Assad landscape. Rather than repeat the overt, Western-fronted reconstruction model used in Iraq, both countries have opted for a subtler architecture: powerful Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., take the visible lead, while Western firms and planners operate behind them. This approach fits neatly into the broader U.S. effort to re-establish Western influence across the Middle East and to revive the Arab–Israeli normalisation framework that defined Donald Trump’s first term — a framework designed to limit the strategic space available to Russia and China. The question now is how far this strategy can run, and what Washington and London ultimately intend to build in Syria.
The U.S./G.B.-led early lifting of international sanctions against the previous Russia-backed al-Assad regime signalled the West’s seriousness in rebuilding Syria’s cornerstone oil and gas sectors as part of a broader revitalisation of its economy, by dint of which it can become “stable, unified and at peace with itself and its neighbors”, as delineated in the sanctions removal order. Before the country’s civil war started in March 2011 as part of the Arab Spring movement, it was a significant crude oil power, with production of around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) from proved reserves of 2.5 billion barrels. In fact, before the recovery rate had begun to decline due to a lack of enhanced oil recovery techniques being employed at the major fields, it had been producing nearly 600,000 bpd. At that time, Europe was importing around US$3 billion of oil per year from Syria, with many of the continent’s refineries configured to process the heavy, sour ‘Souedie’ crude oil that makes up much of Syria’s output, and was exported — together with its sweet and lighter ‘Syrian Light’ grade — to Germany, Italy, and France, from one of its three Mediterranean export terminals: Banias, Tartus, and Latakia.
With at least 73 GW data centre projects in the connection pipeline, the Labour government moved earlier this year to consult on proposals to curtail speculators snapping up spots in the connection queue.
But buried in the consultation document is also a proposal for embedding greater “demand flexibility” into data centre grid connection agreements.
Problem
Heatwaves are one of the triggers for electricity grid stress. Jon Saltmarsh, chief technology officer at Energy Systems Catapult told The Ecologist: “Heat affects all types of generation – it’s not specifically a renewables problem.
“Higher external temperatures result in gas generation thermal plants operating less efficiently while transformers and transmission networks have to be derated at higher temperatures.”
This makes balancing supply and demand for electricity very difficult, particularly as demand surges from consumers trying to keep cool.
The UK grid operator NESO can already pay large industrial users, including data centres, to switch off the grid and use their back-up generators through existing policies such as the Balancing Mechanism and Flexibility Services.
Saltmarsh added: “Much of the flexibility provided by industry comes from back-up diesel generation. For short periods of time, the carbon emissions are very limited. It only becomes a problem when used regularly.”
Rules
A source at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said: “Data centres will not run from diesel powered generation at a significant scale when demand limitations are in place.
“Environmental permit requirements place limits on the operation of emergency generators, meaning they are not expected to provide a large-scale solution to data centre flexibility.”
In the US, environmental campaigners say the authorities have been trying for years to make it easier for operators to rely on data centre diesel generators to take the strain off the overloaded grid.
In 2023, Piedmont Environmental Council in Virginia warned that the local Department of Environmental Quality was trying to push through changes to strict rules about when data centres can run on diesel generators.
Slammed
As temperatures climbed to record levels across the Eastern states of the US in July this year, residents living near massive data centre clusters saw black smoke billowing from the facilities’ banks of diesel back-up generators.
Two punishing heatwaves that month prompted PJM Interconnection (PJM), the electricity grid operator serving 14 states across the region, to ask “large load” customers, including data centres, to switch over from the grid to their own power sources in order to avoid blackouts.
According to data released by PJM for 3 to 5 July and 14 to 17 July, the operator relied on generators running for 1,799 hours beyond the limits set down in their environmental permits, providing 9 GW of relief for the overloaded grid.
Environmental campaigners representing residents living in areas dominated by the region’s data centre clusters slammed the decision, which was authorised by the US Secretary of State for Energy.
See full article at theecologist.org
And how about availability of diesel:
Note also that European stress has migrated from road fuel into refined products — diesel is up roughly 40% since mid-June, with about a quarter of Russian refining capacity lost to strikes and Saudi Arabia’s Jazan refinery shut since 27 July. Forecourt availability, which is what this page measures, remains the least stressed part of the European picture.
In today’s market, EN590 diesel supply is shaped by more than refinery production capacity. Scheduled maintenance, domestic demand, export priorities, logistics constraints, and contractual obligations all affect how refineries allocate production. Consequently, buyers involved in diesel fuel procurement, bulk fuel allocation, or long-term supply agreements must understand how allocation decisions influence cargo availability before entering negotiations.
This article explains how refinery allocation works, why it matters to international buyers and suppliers, and how procurement strategies can be adapted to changing refinery operations while reducing commercial and logistical risk.
Industry Overview: Understanding Refinery Allocation EN590
Refinery Allocation Within the Petroleum Trading System
Refinery allocation is the process through which a refinery distributes its available production among contracted customers, domestic markets, export programs, and strategic inventories. Although production planning begins months before physical delivery, actual allocations are continually adjusted in response to operational performance and market conditions.
For EN590 diesel fuel, allocation decisions typically follow refinery production forecasts, contractual commitments, maintenance schedules, and export economics. A refinery with sufficient production capacity may still reduce export allocations if domestic consumption increases or if planned maintenance temporarily lowers output.
Within international petroleum trading, allocation serves as a mechanism for balancing supply with contractual obligations. Large integrated refiners often prioritize long-term customers before making additional cargoes available to traders or spot buyers. As a result, allocation influences not only physical supply but also procurement timing and commercial negotiations.
Refinery allocation also affects petroleum logistics, as export terminals, storage operators, vessel scheduling, and inspection providers coordinate around confirmed production volumes. Therefore, allocation decisions extend well beyond refinery operations and influence every stage of the downstream supply chain.
Diesel generators for nuclear power station backup;
Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses external power supply
By Reuters
August 20, 20267:26 AM GMT+1Updated August 20, 2026
MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) – The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has switched to emergency diesel generators after damage to a high-voltage line caused the facility to lose external power, the plant management said on Thursday.
“Plant personnel are monitoring the equipment’s operating parameters. All necessary measures to maintain the safe condition of the power units are being taken in full,” the Moscow-installed management said, adding that radiation levels were normal.
The plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, produces no electricity but needs power supplied by two external links to keep nuclear fuel cool.
Russia seized the plant in the first weeks of the war that began in 2022, and both Moscow and Kyiv have since regularly accused the other of military action that compromises nuclear safety.
Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
And
The Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has lost external power supply again. Backup diesel generators were used to meet the station’s own needs. This was announced on August 20 by the ZAES press service.
The 330 kV Ferroalloy-1 high-voltage power transmission line, which provided external power to the NPP, shut down automatically due to damage. After the loss of external power supply, the power units of the station were regularly switched to power from backup diesel generators.
“The radiation background at the site of the Zaporizhia NPP and in the observation area is within the natural values and does not exceed the established norms,” the Telegram channel said.
The personnel of the NPP monitors the parameters of the equipment and takes all necessary measures to maintain the safe condition of the power units. The situation at the Zaporizhia NPP is under constant control of the plant’s specialists
Attack marks first time military action has forced a fully operating nuclear power plant to rely on backup generators
Tue 19 May 2026 15.49 BSTShare
A drone strike that cut off external power to a nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates this week has revived concerns over the safety of nuclear plants during wartime.
Reactor no 3 at the Barakah nuclear plant lost vital off-site power for about 24 hours after the attack on Sunday, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators.
The UAE’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that three drones targeting the plant had originated from Iraqi territory, suggesting a pro-Iranian proxy group was most likely to have been behind the strike.
Two were intercepted, but one got through, causing a fire near a four-reactor plant that supplies the UAE with a quarter of its electricity.
The UAE said the strike hit an electrical generator “outside the inner perimeter”, raising fears it could have hit the switch yard which lies just beyond a wall around the site’s reactors.
The impact of heatwaves on nuclear power generation is welldocumented, with a plethora of headlines often accompanying record temperatures in nations that rely on the technology.
For example, around 70% of electricity is generated by nuclear power in France, leaving it vulnerable to the impacts of heatwaves.
During the July 2026 heatwave, three of France’s 57 nuclear reactors had to shut down. Generation was reduced at another seven, causing an almost 9% dip in power production.
(This is a well-known phenomenon – France has seen reductions in nuclear generation due to heatwaves in 2003, 2006, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025.)
Ratcliffe went to Moscow and met directly with Russian intelligence officials, including Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR.
Source: Lev Parnas, Substack
News of Ratcliffe’s trip to Russia, which the administration did not officially acknowledge until this morning, had sparked rampant speculation in Washington and Europe because it marked the first such known trip to the Russian capital by a CIA director under President Donald Trump. In late 2021, then-President Joe Biden’s spy chief, Bill Burns, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against invading Ukraine. Russian forces stormed across the border three months later.
Ratcliffe has also been a vocal supporter of Israel. His legacy includes strengthening the U.S.-Israel partnership in cyber defense through the passage of the United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act in 2016. Ratcliffe criticized the Biden administration for allegedly diverting U.S. intelligence resources from groups like Hamas. He has condemned the framing of Israel’s actions in Gaza by Vice President Kamala Harris, labeling it a “false narrative.” On Iran, Ratcliffe has praised Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets, seeing them as a vital component of the “Trump doctrine” of maximum pressure. He has suggested that the U.S. should support such actions, reaffirming his strong stance on countering Iran’s regional influence and bolstering U.S.-Israel security cooperation.
On November 13, 2024, President Trump nominated Ratcliffe as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). On January 23, 2025, Ratcliffe, has been confirmed by the Senate as the new CIA director, becoming the second member of Trump’s cabinet to be approved.
A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report confirmed that the Russian government aimed to help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. elections through hacking, disinformation, and social media campaigns. The Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller documented numerous contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian entities but found insufficient evidence to establish a conspiracy.
And Lev Parnas, Substack, 28th August, 2026 comment:
Right now, the Justice Department is conducting an explosive investigation through the Southern District of Florida involving the origins and handling of the intelligence assessment surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has received a grand-jury subpoena.
Former intelligence and law-enforcement officials have been pulled into the investigation.
Investigators have sought information surrounding the preparation of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade calling the Russia investigation a hoax.
Kash Patel built much of his political identity around attacking that investigation.
And now?
Trump’s Justice Department is investigating the investigators.
Trump’s CIA director is meeting Russian intelligence officials in Moscow.
Trump’s FBI director is preparing to meet with the FSB.
Mustang Advocates Say Report Proves Wild Horses From Wyoming Sent To Slaughter
Mustang advocates say a New York Times report proves horses rounded up from the range in Wyoming and other states have been sent to slaughter. An advocacy group is now asking Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to shut down all sales of wild horses.
Horse advocates are claiming a New York Times investigation proves their allegations that mustangs rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management have been funneled through dealers who sold them for slaughter.
That includes horses from Wyoming, wild-horse advocate Suzanne Roy told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
“We got a brand number for those horses,” said Roy, who worked on the investigation as a consultant for Skydog Ranch & Sanctuary out of Bend, Oregon.
Roy and Skydog Ranch & Sanctuary founder Clare Staples previously told Cowboy State Daily that horses passed through the Wind River Ranch near Lander were sent to dealers who sold them to slaughter.
They claimed the BLM broke its own rules in doing so because the agency isn’t authorized to send horses to slaughter, either directly or by proxy.
Skydog claimed in a statement Thursday that the Times investigative piece proves their allegations. The group said it sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding an immediate shutdown of all BLM wild-horse sales.
Horses captured during BLM roundups went to livestock trader Brandon Jones in Ohio, who bought them for $25 each, the Times reported Thursday.
According to livestock inspection records, mustangs sold by the government were sent to slaughterhouses in Canada, the Times wrote.
A request for comment sent from Cowboy State Daily to Burgum’s office wasn’t answered by publication time.
The BLM denies that it’s funneled horses to slaughter.
“The Bureau of Land Management does not sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter, and allegations that individuals are violating federal law or the terms governing the sale of these animals are taken seriously,” according to an email from the agency’s national press office Thursday evening. “Violations of these laws may result in criminal fines and imprisonment. When BLM receives credible evidence of potential violations, the agency reviews that information and refers appropriate matters to law enforcement.”
The BLM said its mission remains to protect wild horses and burros, and to control their numbers though roundups and adoptions or sales, “while longstanding federal safeguards and BLM policy prohibit their sale for commercial processing. Those who abuse the program or attempt to circumvent its protections should not be confused with the thousands of responsible Americans who provide good homes for these animals.”
Mule Deer Foundation president and CEO Greg Sheehan, former head of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said there have beencases of horses going from the BLM to slaughter sale dealers.
“A little bit of what they (horse advocates) describe has happened. But that was abuse of the system; any system can be abused,” Sheehan said. “Are there a few cases? Yes, there are, but it’s not systemic.”
Horse advocates say it’s been proven that mustangs rounded up in Wyoming have been sent to slaughterhouses in Canada. (Carol Walker)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Elon Musk Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, one of the country’s top state honors, via a presidential decree published Wednesday praising him “for outstanding personal contributions to protecting human life and freedom, and for developing relations between the peoples of Ukraine and the United States of America.” The honor comes as Kyiv pushes to expand its use of Musk’s Starlink terminals, which have served as the backbone of Ukrainian battlefield communications and drone piloting since Musk activated the service over Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion; earlier this year Musk also agreed, at the request of Ukraine’s since-dismissed defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, to disable thousands of Russian “grey-market” Starlink terminals, disrupting Russian forces. Ukraine is now specifically asking to use Starlink over Russian territory itself, aiming to help strike targets like the ballistic missile launchers hitting Ukrainian cities, a move Zelenskyy said Musk had opposed as a “major escalation” but that Kyiv is now getting “more encouraging feedback” on. Zelenskyy argued that extending Starlink coverage over Russia could undercut capabilities Moscow is relying on to prolong the war
Source: Aaron Parnas, Substack
However:
Rocket booster for Russia’s Starlink equivalent set to splash down in the Barents Sea
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket is expected to launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome within the next few days, carrying another batch of Rassvet satellites into orbit.
Roscosmos, Russia’s state space agency, has issued a warning for a potential rocket-stage splashdown in the Barents Sea sometime before the evening of 27 August. Once a rocket booster has completed its task, it separates from the upper stage and falls back to Earth.
Anyone flying or sailing in the area is being warned to stay away. Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) are available from the Norwegian aviation authorities, while both Norway’s FishInfo and Russia’s Sea Port Administration for the Western Arctic in Murmansk have published corresponding Navigational Warnings (PRIPs).
The launch is due to take place from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region.
Update: The launch took place on August 24 at 5:40 a.m. (Moscow time)
………………
“A larger and more mature Rassvet constellation, covering larger geographic areas with greater continuity, could improve the Russian Armed Forces’ ability to maintain secure communications during military operations, coordinate geographically dispersed forces and support the operation of unmanned systems, including aerial drones,” he told the Barents Observer.
Rassvet was initially marketed as a satellite-based internet service for civilian use. However, according to The Insider, Vladimir Putin has said that work on a Russian equivalent of Elon Musk’s Starlink is progressing at a good pace. He has also indicated that soldiers on the ground could soon benefit from access to the satellites.
Musk allows Ukrainian forces to use Starlink in Ukrainian-controlled territory, while access to the network is blocked inside Russia.
Ukrainian authorities have reportedly asked Elon Musk to allow Starlink to be used in support of drone strikes against Russian military targets inside Russia. However, both the billionaire and Donald Trump have rejected the option, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Horrifying images caught by CCTV before transmission cut out:
The catastrophic debris flow that struck Nepal and Tibet today was triggered by the collapse of a glacier high in the mountains.
Why did this mountain collapse:
Glacier melt is primarily driven by rising global temperatures caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial emissions that increase greenhouse gases. Since 2000, glaciers worldwide have been losing an average of 273 billion tonnes of ice per year, accelerating freshwater loss and contributing to sea-level rise. European Space Agency iberdrola.com
Thousands will have perished, including tourists:
Footage broadcast on TV channels shows collapsed houses being swept away by the floodwaters, cars adrift and a massive metal bridge over the Trishuli River swept away by the flood. According to some witnesses quoted by Reuters, entire villages have reportedly been submerged by the floodwaters. Others claim to have seen the current sweep away ‘eight or nine lorries, along with houses and people’.
“There could be many casualties or significant material damage,” said Nepalese district administrator Narendra Pariyar, urging villagers living on the banks of the Bhote Koshi river to move to higher ground.
“There is devastation wherever we look,” explains Tula Bahadur BK, a healthcare worker from Rasuwa. “The settlements near the river have been completely swept away. Five of my relatives are missing.” According to the Nepalese army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet, rescue helicopters will not be able to land in the affected areas until the waters recede.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for every possible effort to be made to search for and rescue missing persons, to evacuate and rehouse residents threatened by the disaster, and to speed up treatment for the injured, with the aim of minimising the number of casualties. He also ordered that monitoring and early warning systems be strengthened, that rescue operations be conducted in accordance with scientific principles, and that the occurrence of secondary disasters be prevented.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has, in turn, asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strengthen communication and coordination with the countries concerned and to share information promptly in order to jointly manage the rescue operations. On the instructions of Xi and Li, Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Guoqing travelled to the scene with the heads of the relevant departments to lead the rescue and emergency management operations. The Tibetan authorities have mobilised forces for search and rescue operations at the disaster site.
Our planet is self destructing thanks to human harmful actions.
It was only recently the famous Nepalese mountaineer died under an avalanche. The danger signs were there, but still he continued to climb.
Before the avalanche, Nirmal “Nims” Purja, a climbing sensation, posted on Instagram that the world’s twelfth highest mountain would be a late addition to his expedition. He also petitioned the mountain for protection: “Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down.” Prabin Ranabhat, Pacific Press, Sipa USA, AP Images
How Nims Purja’s Broad Peak climb ended in deadly disaster
The mountaineering star and nine other climbers perished in an avalanche in Pakistan’s Karakoram. Other expeditions had already left the mountain over concerns about a recent heavy snowfall.
Before the avalanche, Nirmal “Nims” Purja, a climbing sensation, posted on Instagram that the world’s twelfth highest mountain…Read More
Prabin Ranabhat, Pacific Press, Sipa USA, AP Images
ByAnna Callaghan and Grayson Schaffer
Last updated August 2, 2026
David Klein and Ian Overton did not like what they were seeing. By the last week of July the two men had been living under Pakistan’s 26,414-foot Broad Peak for a month, and the mountain in front of them had dramatically changed its mood. They had come to climb it without bottled oxygen and no porters. Klein, a Hungarian who led the country’s first ascent attempt on Broad Peak in 2000, and Overton, an American ER nurse, tried Nanga Parbat together in winter 2012. This year, they decided to give Broad Peak, the world’s twelfth highest peak, a go.
In mid-July, Klein told ExplorersWeb that conditions on the mountain were relatively good and that “avalanche danger is low.” Most of what could slide, he said then, had already slid. On July 19, he followed a Pakistani rope-fixing team up the west side for 19 hours and turned around somewhere between 50 and 70 vertical meters below the summit. Klein was climbing without bottled oxygen. Overton, affected by the altitude, had already returned to base camp.
Klein weighed the idea of making another attempt, but was dissuaded by heavy snowfall that began around July 22. “After lots of snowfall you don’t only want good weather,” says Klein. “You want a few days of good weather in which there is no snowfall, but you are not moving because the snow has to do one of two things. It has to stick to the mountain or it has to slide down.”
Most of the teams at base camp had already gone home. On July 25, Klein and Overton packed up and walked out as well. Yet a few teams with summit hopes remained, including that of Nirmal “Nims” Purja, who rose to fame in 2019 after summiting all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in record time, and his team from Elite Exped, who were staged at a nearby base camp.
Why they decided to stay is still opaque, but the consequences were deadly. At around 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, July 30, an avalanche swept ten climbers down the mountain’s main west-facing gulley, up to a vertical mile, and a rescue and recovery mission was immediately initiated. At first, rescuers hoped to find survivors. But the Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed on Friday that the bodies of two climbers, Nadhira Al-Harthy of Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung “Yukta” of Nepal, had been recovered. And on Saturday, Elite Exped posted that Purja and another climber and guide, Nima Sherpa, were among the dead. “Today, it is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal ‘Nimsdai’ Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak. We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive.”
All the signs are around us. We know we have tipped our planet into a momentum of disaster due to our human activities, yet we have intensified the harm and reduced the attempts to Save the Planet.
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Health and welfare
The Ministry of Health is responsible for the support and administration of public health services, including hospitals and health clinics. Although the government has taken steps to improve existing health centers and to establish new ones, health care remains inadequate. Malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and typhoid are prevalent in spite of government projects to control or eradicate them. Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional Hindu system of medicine, is popular in Nepal.
The El Niño event developing over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest for more than a century and make 2027 another record-breaking year for heat, the UK’s Met Office has said.
Increased rainfall and storms are forecast to hit the UK this autumn as a result of the “unprecedented” weather pattern, while the pulse in heat it generates means the global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5C above the preindustrial average, according to the national weather service.
Some scientists have said temperatures could rise by as much as 1.7C during 2027. “We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” said Prof Adam Scaife, the Met Office’s head of long-range forecasting. “I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Scaife said a typical El Niño involved Pacific sea temperatures rising by more than 1C, “with 2C being a really big event”. This year Pacific sea temperatures are expected to rise by 3C, making this El Niño “the largest since the 19th century”, according to the Met Office.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Scaife said: “We’re expecting the biggest El Niño for over a century, peaking at something over 3C. That is unheard of in modern climate records … It’s up 2C degrees already.”
He said the effects would be felt worldwide, adding they would be “particularly strong throughout the tropics, where we expect really severe droughts in places like South America and the west Pacific”.
He said: “Then there are wave-like disturbances that come out from the tropics and affect places like the UK. So we already see signals for increased rainfall and storminess in the autumn here in the UK around November time.”
There is also a heightened risk of drought in southern Africa and north-east Australia, while north-western Europe – including the UK – was likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions, the Met Office said.
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