Politics

Wall Work Starts on Tribal Land: August 28, 2026

The Trump administration has started work on a stretch of border wall along part of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation in southern Arizona, the Associated Press reported Thursday from Phoenix, pushing ahead with a signature project the tribe has already sued to stop. Customs and Border Protection says the desert is a smuggling route and that a wall will close a gap. The nation, about 37,000 members, including thousands who live in Mexico, says contractors are trespassing and that the barrier would wreck sacred peaks and rewrite the reservation’s edge.

Tribal officials said about 20 CBP officers went onto the land early Tuesday with contractors and drill trucks to take soil samples. Drone video they released showed roughly 14 vehicles and an industrial drill. They said the agents were masked and armed and blocked tribal police from removing the crews. The nation had put up “No Trespassing” signs. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, in Washington, had already let the government proceed, writing that the wall would sit on a 60-foot federally owned strip called the Roosevelt Reservation. The tribe’s answer is that driving across its land to get there is still trespass. So far there have been no reported physical clashes.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the job “will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity.” The Arizona segment is part of a $46 billion push of 30-foot steel bollards, vehicle barriers and surveillance. SLSCO Ltd., a Texas contractor, has more than $390 million in Homeland Security wall money since 2023. The tribe says it is looking at further legal steps. The drills are already on the ground.

Sources: Associated Press via ABC News; KJZZ.

Ceuta Burns Migrant Camps: August 28, 2026

A month after at least 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta — most of them swimming around a border fence; the mayor said at least 100 died — several thousand remain in the Spanish city, many sleeping on beaches, and on Thursday the protests turned into fire. The BBC reported that dozens of residents blocked Red Cross workers from handing out food and water, then set migrant camps alight on Trampolín beach and clashed with police. That came hours after 12 migrants were arrested for throwing stones at a military vehicle, breaking windows and injuring four soldiers. There were reports of vigilante groups chasing people through the streets. Journalists said they were threatened.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told a congressional committee that violence is not the answer and accused the People’s Party and Vox of feeding stigmatisation “at a moment when what we need is responsibility and statesmanship.” Ceuta’s conservative mayor, Juan Jesús Vivas, said the city’s “right to normality” and “the dignity of Spain” were at stake. On Friday every party in the local assembly signed a declaration condemning violence. Madrid this week took crisis management away from the local authority. Defence Minister Margarita Robles apologised to residents who “may have felt, or who even still feel, abandoned or not sufficiently cared.”

Most of the July arrivals went back to Morocco within hours. The ones still there are the argument. The government wants to move people into public buildings to process asylum and returns; locals, and Vivas, do not want them nearer residential streets. Morocco has restated a “historical and geographical” claim to Ceuta and Melilla. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said he would not discuss Spain’s territorial integrity “with Morocco or with anyone else.” The camps on the beach were still the story on Thursday night.

Sources: BBC; AFP via The Local.

Russia Threatens British Targets: August 28, 2026

Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday it could strike British military installations and equipment “in Ukraine and beyond its borders” if Kyiv kept firing British long-range cruise missiles into Russia. Maria Zakharova, speaking in Moscow, said London was “one step away” from being legally complicit — in Moscow’s telling — in “terrorism” against Russian civilians, and warned of “catastrophic consequences” unless Britain changed course. Al Jazeera called it the strongest direct threat yet to a NATO member that has been among Ukraine’s closest suppliers.

The warning sat on two decisions. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, in Kyiv on August 24, said a British contractor could release classified details of U.K.-made parts in the Franco-British SCALP/Storm Shadow missile so Ukraine could move toward building the weapon at home. France had already licensed SCALP technology in July. Moscow also accused Ukraine of using Storm Shadow missiles against a shopping centre in Russian-controlled Donetsk, an attack it said wounded civilians, including children. Zakharova told London to “abandon the hostile, aggressive line.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Reuters that Britain stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine and would keep sending what Kyiv needed “to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion.” “Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government to stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine and against the U.K. and our allies,” the spokesperson said. Burnham has said Britain is not changing course. Zakharova has now put British sites, including those outside Ukraine, into the sentence.

Sources: Al Jazeera; Reuters.

Jakarta Detains Hundreds: August 28, 2026

Thousands of Indonesians marched on parliament in Jakarta on Thursday, a year to the day after anti-government riots killed about ten people and put nearly 7,000 in custody, to demand a law that would let the state seize assets tied to corruption. The bill has been in the building since 2008. Some in the crowd wanted the death penalty for corrupt officials. Riot police held them behind the locked gates for much of the day. Al Jazeera, citing AFP, said that after nightfall some protesters threw objects, police answered with tear gas and a water cannon, and a police post and a motorcycle were set alight. Students also marched in Yogyakarta and Makassar.

Jakarta police had put 18,500 officers on the street and detained 65 people before the march as suspected “provocateurs,” spokesperson Budi Hermanto said. On Friday he told a press conference that 322 people were being held for questioning, 160 of them younger than 18, after “a group of rioters arrived” once most of the crowd had gone. Police named 45 suspects for damage to public facilities and violence. One man lost consciousness at the scene, was taken to hospital, and later died. Officials said they were still gathering facts. Some commuter-rail and bus routes near parliament were suspended or diverted Friday.

House leaders met the United Pati Community Alliance outside the legislature and, according to its coordinator, promised to pass the asset-forfeiture bill by December 15 or resign. President Prabowo Subianto’s approval rating slumped to 38 percent this month in a Tempo poll. Last year’s riots were an early test of his government. Thursday was supposed to be the anniversary without a riot. Friday morning, the trains were still being rerouted.

Sources: Al Jazeera; AFP; Reuters.

China Strips Two Generals: August 28, 2026

China’s parliament standing committee on Friday took Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli off the state Central Military Commission, Xinhua said, seven months after both were put under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Zhang had been vice-chairman of the commission — second to Xi Jinping, and the highest-ranked general in the country — and a member of the Politburo. Liu sat on the commission and ran the Joint Staff Department. Reuters, from Beijing, said a body that used to have seven members now has two: Xi, and Zhang Shengmin, the remaining vice-chairman.

China keeps two Central Military Commissions, one for the Communist Party and one for the state, that function as a single institution. Friday’s vote was the state version. Zhang and Liu have not been formally, publicly stripped of the Party seats. Their names also disappeared from an updated list of National People’s Congress deputies, along with ten other lawmakers, among them Lieutenant General Zhong Shaojun, once director of the CMC General Office, and General Ju Qiansheng, a former Strategic Support Force commander. Separately, the top political advisory body on Wednesday dropped Zhao Zongqi, who commanded the Western Theatre during the 2020 clash with India.

The military has been a main target of the anti-corruption campaign Xi ordered in 2012. Last month he told senior Party leaders to deepen that fight. AFP noted that Zhang’s fall still shocked people who had him down as close to Xi. The investigation language is the usual euphemism. The commission that is supposed to run the People’s Liberation Army is now two men.

Sources: Reuters; AFP via The Star; Xinhua.

Brazil Sues Discord Over Children: August 26, 2026

Brazil’s government said Wednesday it had taken Discord to federal court, seeking 500 million reais (about $97 million) over what it calls a failure to protect children on the gaming chat platform. The Associated Press, from São Paulo, said the Solicitor-General’s office for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva filed a 25-page suit that AP obtained. It alleges “direct violations” of Brazilian rules on the safety of children and teenagers, including “severe gaps” in age verification and user protections, and asks for damages for alleged collective psychological harm. Discord in Brazil called the move “disproportionate” and said it “does not accurately reflect Discord’s approach to safety and compliance with Brazilian law.”

The filing follows a July suicide case tied to the platform. Earlier this month the government pressed Discord to suspend live broadcasts over that incident. Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela Lula da Silva, known as Janja, said on August 6 that Discord should be taken offline. Five teenagers were arrested in connection with the death, according to the justice ministry. The solicitor-general also wants the court to order stronger parental controls, more cooperation with local police, and automated tools to find and remove dangerous content. The suit notes Discord already faces cases in U.S. states including Texas, Nevada, and New Jersey. The company says it has more than 90 million active daily users worldwide.

Lula and Brazil’s Supreme Court have been trying, with mixed results, to tighten rules on how minors use the internet, in a year when Australia, Canada, and Indonesia have moved on similar ground. This is not a ban yet. It is the federal government putting a number on the table in Brasília and asking a judge to make Discord change how it works, or pay. Discord says that is the wrong size of stick. The court has the file.

Sources: Associated Press.

Bangladesh Weighs Mecca Defence Pact: August 26, 2026

Bangladesh is talking about joining a new mutual-defence pact that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed in Mecca this month — a NATO-style pledge that an attack on one is an attack on all. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir told reporters the idea was “being viewed positively.” “If there is a security arrangement among Islamic nations in the Middle East, it is not unusual for us to consider participating,” he said. A Bangladesh foreign ministry source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had invited Dhaka, without saying when. When The Daily Star asked Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam, he said he was not aware of any invitation or any decision to join. The Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani embassies in Dhaka did not immediately comment.

The three countries signed in the Saudi holy city on 7 August, as Iranian missile fire moved across the Middle East. Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has said the pact is open to expansion. More than 90 percent of Bangladesh’s population is Sunni Muslim. Kobir said the invitation was aimed at “the leadership of Bangladesh, particularly Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.” Rahman has been in office about six months. The economy still runs on garment exports to Britain, the European Union, and the United States, and on remittances from workers, mainly in the Middle East. Formal alliance membership, geopolitical analyst Kollol Kibria told Reuters, would not automatically break ties with India, China, Iran, Japan, the Gulf states, Russia, or the United States — “but once Bangladesh joins a military bloc, the question of which side Bangladesh is on becomes much harder to avoid.”

India is the sensitive neighbour, because Pakistan is a founding member. Rahman’s government has asked New Delhi to extradite former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and has not yet decided on a visit. India’s foreign ministry has said only that it is closely following the Mecca pact and the wider situation in West Asia. Dhaka has not said yes. It has not said no. It has said the invitation looks, from one minister’s chair, like something to consider.

Sources: The Daily Star (Reuters).

Pentagon Briefs NATO on Europe Troops: August 26, 2026

The Pentagon’s policy chief is due in Brussels on Thursday to tell NATO ambassadors what Washington wants from a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe — a review European officials still cannot decide is a genuine consultation, a gesture, or a bargaining chip. Arab News, from Brussels, said Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby will meet ambassadors from the 32-country alliance. “The United States is consulting with Allies as part of its force posture review,” a NATO official said. Washington launched the review in July as it presses Europe to take primary responsibility for the continent’s conventional defence. The United States currently has roughly 80,000 troops in Europe.

The move was announced by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth amid U.S. anger at European restrictions on American forces using bases at the start of the Iran war. As part of the process, the United States is quizzing countries over defence spending and access for American forces. “We need to send a united European message on Thursday to show how we are stepping up together as a whole,” one diplomat told Arab News. “It is not a beauty contest.” Colby has described the review as meant to advance “NATO 3.0,” an alliance where Europe takes primary responsibility for conventional defence.

President Donald Trump’s administration has long pressured Europe to spend more as it signals it wants to step back and focus on other challenges such as China. The Pentagon has already told allies it is reducing the number of assets it makes available for NATO defence plans. Washington also said in May it would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, but Trump later said he was sending the same number to neighboring Poland. European countries agreed in 2025 to Trump’s demand to devote five percent of GDP to security-related spending by 2035. Thursday’s briefing is the first time Colby is expected to walk the whole ambassadors’ table through the review.

Sources: Arab News; Defense News.

Bolivia Deploys Troops Over Diesel: August 26, 2026

Bolivia put soldiers and police on the highway through Yapacaní, in Santa Cruz, on Tuesday to stop a farm blockade over diesel prices — then a deputy minister sat down with the same farmers and talked about tearing the price decree up. EFE, from the town, said the road toward Cochabamba stayed open. Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said the overnight deployment was “to prevent the blockade, protect the highway and, above all, avoid clashes.” A 90-day state of emergency, declared on 20 June after weeks of protests demanding President Rodrigo Paz resign, is still in force until 20 September. People can march and meet, Justiniano said. They cannot block roads.

Supreme Decree 5676, issued 17 August, set a reference price of 18 bolivianos a litre (about $1.55) for industry, companies, and other “large consumers,” against 9.80 bolivianos (about $0.84) for public transport and anyone using less than 5,000 litres a month. MercoPress put the increase at 83.7 percent. Producers in Yapacaní, a rice area on the east–west corridor about 131 kilometres from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, say supply has dropped by half. Interior Vice Minister Hernán Paredes and a YPFB official met the Intercultural Federation of Agricultural Producers. Farm leader Juan Cáceres told EFE that Paredes committed to work “so that in 48 hours” the decree would be annulled. “And if this decree is not repealed, the organisations … will unify to see the path to take on mobilisation,” Cáceres said.

Paredes, speaking to EFE, said he shared the farmers’ view that the rule “has not met its original objectives,” because subsidised diesel is still being diverted and is not reaching small producers. He told local media the cabinet wanted the decree repealed, modified, or replaced, and that it “cannot stay as it is.” He talked about letting more sectors import fuel, about YPFB refineries running at 18 to 20 percent of capacity, and about sending tankers to test distribution near the fields. He did not name a new price or a date. As of Wednesday, MercoPress reported, the decree was still on the books and at least ten organisations — mining cooperatives, transport workers, market traders, and coca growers among them — were already defying the emergency rules. Groups aligned with former president Evo Morales were due to meet in the Trópico de Cochabamba to decide on their own measures.

Long lines at service stations have been a fact of life for weeks. The state of emergency was supposed to keep the roads open. Yapacaní is where that promise and the diesel decree met.

Sources: MercoPress; EFE via ABC Color.

Australia Lets Queensland Burn Coal for Data Centres: August 26, 2026

Queensland will be allowed to power data centres with coal or gas. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the state premiers met as National Cabinet in Sydney on Wednesday to set national standards for the boom in AI halls, and Canberra blinked. The federal government had wanted new large centres to underwrite extra renewable generation. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli had said energy sources should be “technology-neutral.” After the meeting he called the carve-out a “good win” for a state that owns much of its own electricity system. The Northern Territory, which also wants gas, got the same recognition.

Albanese said both jurisdictions were in a “different position” to the others. He still claimed “buy-in on Australia’s first national AI laws,” and said the new standards — covering energy, water, land use, and community consultation — would be legislated early next year. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas rejected the idea that the prime minister had been rolled, and said leaders were aligned that data centres should add to the grid without wrecking the national energy market. “What we agreed upon is that renewables will principally be the form of energy that will power data centres in the future in Australia,” he told 7.30. The communique talked about consistency for investors, sovereignty, and national interest. It did not restore the renewables mandate Energy Minister Chris Bowen had said he would legislate over the top of holdouts.

The numbers underneath the argument are not small. The Australian Energy Market Operator said Tuesday that data-centre electricity use on the National Electricity Market — everywhere except Western Australia and the Northern Territory — is expected to rise sevenfold in ten years, from about 3 percent of the grid now to around 13 percent by 2036, roughly what New South Wales and Victorian homes use together. There are already more than 200 centres. Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said Albanese had “clearly been rolled.” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Labor had “opened the door to more gas, more pollution and a fossil fuel free-for-all.” Crisafulli’s line, from state parliament on Tuesday, was simpler: “We should choose the energy mix, not a minister in Canberra who is driven by ideology.”

National Cabinet also agreed that Australian citizenship will be a condition of holding a firearm licence, with some exceptions. A national gun buyback after last December’s Bondi attack barely moved: Queensland is still out, Victoria and South Australia have not signed up, and Albanese said the offer was “still there.” Bird flu, now detected in all six states, got another $125 million. GST was left alone. The fight that actually changed on Wednesday was over who gets to burn what to keep the servers on.

Sources: ABC News.

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